The European Commission upholds the right to conscientious objection, Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms Elisa Ferreira said in a written response to a parliamentary question, pointing out that the European Court for Human Rights considers Turkey responsible for human rights violations in the occupied areas. Ferreira was responding to a parliamentary question by MEP Demetris Papadakis (S and D, Cyprus).
In her written response (dated 12/3/2024) to the question, which focused on the case of Turkish Cypriot conscientious objector Mustafa Hrben, Ferreira said that the Commission is aware of the specific case, and that Hrben ‘was released from prison on 25 January 2024 after having served a three-day prison sentence following his refusal to pay an 800 Turkish Lira fine (around EUR 24) for exercising the conscientious objection to military service.’
‘The Union upholds the right to conscientious objection’, Ferreira stressed, pointing out that under Article 10 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union
‘everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the right to conscientious objection’.
Ferreira also noted that Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) ‘upholds the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion’, and, through the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the right to conscientious objection.
While the acquis, including the Charter, is suspended in the areas not under the effective control of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, the European Court of Human Rights ‘holds Trkiye, a contracting party to the ECHR, responsible for violations of the ECHR in these areas’. ‘The Commission regularly calls on Trkiye to respect human rights and implement ECtHR judgments’ she added.
Commissioner Ferreira also pointed out that, under the Aid programme for the Turkish Cypriot community, the EU provides support to Turkish Cypriot civil society organisations working on human rights.
Among them is the Human Rights Platform which monito
rs and reports on the right to conscientious objection, and also provides services to victims of violations and proposes legal texts to improve respect for human rights. The Platform received two Union grants totalling 1,450,000 euros for the period October 2021 to March 2026 according to the Commissioner.
In his parliamentary question (submitted 9/1/2024) Papadakis had pointed out the violations of the rights of Turkish Cypriots by ‘the illegal regime in occupied Cyprus, a vassal of Trkiye’, citing the prosecution of Mustafa Hrben as the most recent case.
The MEP added that the regime forces Turkish Cypriots, who are legal citizens of the Republic of Cyprus, to serve in the Turkish army, initially as conscripts and later as reservists, with refusal to serve being considered desertion which carries a prison sentence. Three Turkish Cypriots, Murat Kanatli, Halil Karapasaoglu and Haluk Selam Tufanli, have already taken their cases to the ECHR he added, and asked the European Commission what steps it could tak
e to address the issue and to protect legal residents of the RoC living in the Turkish-occupied territories.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
